Portable fence.



" No. 807,592. PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905.

J. BECKER.

PORTABLE FENCE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT, 4. 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed October 4,1905. Serial No. 281,308-

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BECKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Olivet, in the county of Sonoma and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Fences; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in fences; and the object in view is to produce a fence which may be port.- able, made up of sections, and so arranged that it may be conveniently set up for temporary use, and comprises sections, the posts of which are provided with suitable means whereby the line-wires of the fence may be kept taut and'two osts of adjacent sections being adapted to e held together to have the appearance of a single post, the sections being provided with adjustable cross-pieces having guy-wires connecting the same with the posts for the purpose of bracing the fence.

My invention comprises various details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically defined in the appended claims.

I illustrate my invention in the accompanying drawings, which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of this application, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my fence, showing two sections connected together. Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view through two posts of adjacent sections connected together. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view through the posts, taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the manner of connecting the intersecting linewires of the fence.

Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter, A A designate the end posts of a section of my improved fence, each of which sections is recessed away at A upon its inner face adjacent to its bottom for the reception of a cross-piece B, which is adapted .to rest upon the ground, and C designates guy-wires which are fastened to the recessed ends of said cross-piece and their upper ends connected to eyes D, which are fastened to the opposite edges of the posts. Said crosspiece is centrally apertured to receive a pin E, which is passed through registering apertures in the two adjacent posts, whereby the cross-piece may be held in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings or may be pushed to one side, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. of the drawings, if it is desired for any purpose to plow or cultivate ground up nearer to the fence than would be convenient if the braces were held in the position shown in solid lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Each of the recessed portions in the inner edge of the post are ofsuflicient size to allow for the slight upward play of the cross-pieces incident to their being moved longitudinally. One post of each section carries a double-ended hook F, one end'of one of said hooks being shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and the shank portion of each double-ended hook has a bearing in the post and is designed to engage the eyes H which are carried by the adjacent post, as shown clearly in Fig. 1 of the drawings, whereby the two adjacent faces of posts may be held tightly together, having the appearance of a single post.

One post of each section is provided with loops K, which are held to the post by means of pins K, passing through apertures in the post, a detail view illustrating clearly the manner in which said loops are held being shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The ends of each wire forming a loop are twisted to- -gether, as seen at K and when two sections 'of the fence are fastened together said ends which are twisted together are bent down in the form illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, so as to allow the adjacent faces of two posts to come in contact with each other, a portion of each post carrying said loops preferably being slightly countersunken to allow for the reception of the twisted ends thereof. Connected to each loop is a linewire N, which is twisted at N into a coil and adapted to receive a similar coil 0, formed in the tie-wires O, which are disposed at right angles to the linewires, the upper end of each tie-wire being connected to a cross-bar P, which connects the two end posts of a section. Each of said line-wires N has loops N formed at its ends, one of'which is adapted to engage a loop K, and its other end is designed to be engaged by a in Q, (shown clearly in Fig. 2 of the draw1ngs,) said pins passing through registering apertures in the posts at the opposite end of each section.

From the foregoing it will be noted that by the provision of a gate made as illustrated means is afforded for setting up temporarily a fence quickly by simply connecting the two sections by means of the double-ended hooks, causing two adjacent faces of posts to be held in contact with each other, and by the provision of the cross-pieces held in the recesses formed in the adjacent faces of the posts the sectionsmaybethoroughlybraced, and owing to the adjustment of the cross-pieces the latter may be swung to one side or the other of the fence, if desired, and by the peculiar construction of the line-wires, having the loops which are held by pins and provided with twisted ends, the ends of the wires forming said loops may be twisted together to shorten the lengths of the loops if it is desired to make the line-wires more taut, and afterward the twisted ends of the loops bent down in the manner shown in the drawings, after which the two adjacent posts may be held in contact withv each other. By the peculiar manner of interlocking the line-wires with the tie-wires there will be no possibility of the tie-wires slipping upon the longitudinal linewires, and by having the solid rail intermediate the posts means is afforded to allow animals to see the presence of the fence.

While I have shown a particular form of line-wire construction for my fence, it will be understood that any kind of meshwork of wire may be applied to the framework, thereby adapting the fence for convenience in preventing poultry and small animals from going through the fence.

In order to provide a construction of fence adapted for use upon uneven ground, the rails P are at their ends cut away or mortised, as shown at P, these mortised ends being fitted in vertically-elongated openings P in the posts A. It will be noted by this construction that either end of the rails may be raised or lowered to conform to uneven surfaces of ground without in any way injuring or straining the fence.

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A portable fence comprising sections, each made up of two posts, line-wires and a rail connecting said posts, each post being recessed upon its outer face and apertured, a cross-piece adapted to fit in registering recesses in two posts which are placed in contact with each other, a pin adapted to pass through registering apertures in posts which are held in contact with each other and through said crosspie'ce, guy-wires connecting the ends of said crosspiece to the opposite edges of the posts, said cross-piece adapt- 1 ed to be moved longitudinally, and means for fastening two sections of the fence together, as set forth.

2. A portable fence comprising sections, each made up of two posts, line-wires and a rail connecting said posts, each post being recessed upon its outer face and apertured, a cross-piece adapted to fit in registering recesses in two posts which are placed in contact with each other, a pin adapted to pass through registering apertures in posts which are held in contact with each other and through said cross-piece, guy-wires connecting the ends of said cross-piece to the opposite edges of the'posts, said cross-piece adapted to be moved longitudinally, tighteningloops carried by one post of each section and connected to a line-wire, and means for holding the post of an adjacent section against the end of said tightening loop and against the face of the post carrying said loop, as set forth.

, 3. A portable fence comprising sections, each made up of two posts, line-wires and a rail connecting said posts, each post being recessed upon its outer face and apertured, a cross-piece adapted to fit in'registering recesses in two posts which are placed in contact with each other, a pin adapted to pass through registering apertures in posts which are held in contact with each other and through said crosspiece, guy-wires connecting the ends of said cross-piece to the opposite edges of the posts, said cross-piece adapted to be moved longitudinally, tighteningloops carried by onepost of each section and connected to a line-wire, double-ended hooks having a shank portion journaled in apertures in one end post of a section, eyes mounted upon the post of an adjacent section and adapted to be engaged by said hooks, whereby the two end posts of adjacent sections may be held in contact with each other and against the outer ends of said loops, as set forth.

4. A portable fence made u of sections, each comprising a post whic is recessed upon its outer face and apertured to receive line-wires and a pin, line-wires having loops formed at corresponding ends, pins passed through apertures in each post and adapted to engage said loops, tightening-loops mounted in the opposite end post of each section, each tightening-loop made of a piece of wire, the ends of which are twisted, and .pins passing through the post and engagin said tightening-loops, double-ended hoo s, the shank IIS portions of which are journaled in an end In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my post of a section, eyes carried by the post of signature in the presence of two Witnesses. an adjacent section and adapted to be engaged by said hooks, whereby the twisted 5 ends of said adjusting-loops may be held be- Witnesses:

tween the contact-faces of two posts, as set E. MORE, forth. D. H. MOREYNOLDS.

JOHN BECKER. 

